A couple of years ago, I saw that a major dictionary added the term ‘dumbphone’ to its pages. It seemed like a joke to me.
It has been about 15 years since I bought my first iPhone. Before that, I’d always used the smaller, old-fashioned cellular phones. With the iPhone, the term smartphone came into existence. It led to a joke about those little smaller, less fancy cell phones. Many called them “dumbphones” as an obvious play on words. But two years ago, Merriam-Webster decided to add the term dumbphone to the dictionary.
It should go without saying by now, but for many, it doesn’t. Dictionaries aren’t usage manuals and they don’t determine what is and isn’t a valid word. The role of a dictionary is to define how words are being used. In some cases, they define “nonstandard” words — words that do exist but that we shouldn’t use, particularly in formal contexts. That’s why dictionaries contain linguistic blunders like irregardless.
When Merriam-Webster added dumbphone to its pages in 2022, I chuckled. But I really didn’t think much of it. Officially, it defines a dumbphone as “a cell phone that does not include advanced software features (such as email or an internet browser) typically found on smartphones.”
It may have started as a joke…
For years, I was happy to dodge the smartphone craze. I didn’t embrace the term dumbphone, but I had no interest in a smartphone.
“Why would I need to do all that on a phone?” I’d have asked.
Well, fast-forward about 15 years or so, and, yes, I do all that with my trusty iPhone. Maybe I do too much on my iPhone. Some of it, legitimately, is for work. But not all of it is. Still, a smartphone can be a big timekiller.
That brings me to the reason you may be seeing more instances of the word dumbphone these days. Believe it or not, they’re beginning to make something of a comeback. The BBC reported that adults and teens are trading their smartphones for “dumber varieties.” The reason? They’re concerned about social media addiction.
I might suggest that downgrading from a smartphone to a dumbphone seems an extreme option to me. But, if that’s the only way you can get yourself away from the “screen,” then I suppose you have to do what you have to do.
